1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a plurality of supporting strut units which support cooperatively a plurality of floorboard units thereon side by side to bear heavy machinery, such as bulky computer equipment, more particularly to shock-resistant floor-supporting strut units which can bear a relatively heavy load thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a plurality of conventional floor-supporting strut units 2 stand on a horizontal surface or the ground 1 to interconnect a plurality of rectangular horizontal tubes 4 which support a plurality of floorboard units 3 that constitute cooperatively a modular floor unit for placing bulky computer equipment thereon. As such, numerous electrical cords can extend between the ground 1 and the floorboard units 3 in order to maintain a neat surrounding for the computer equipment. Each of the strut units 2 includes a base 21 having a fixed vertical tube 22, a generally circular top plate 23, an externally threaded vertical rod 24 having an upper end secured to the top plate 23, a nut 25 engaging threadably the threaded vertical rod 24 and having a bottom seated on the open upper end of the vertical tube 22, and a cover member 26 for covering the top plate 23. Each of the top plates 23 has four angularly equidistant coupling units, each of which includes two open-ended parallel slots 230, 231 formed in an outer peripheral portion thereof to define a connecting plate section 232 that is inserted into the corresponding tube 4 so as to permit a lock bolt (Bl) to extend through a through-hole 42 in a top wall of the corresponding tube 4 and a fastener hole 233 in the connecting plate section 232 to engage a lock nut (N1), thereby locking the tube 4 on the top plate 23. As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, each of the tubes 4 has two parallel side walls 40, 41 which are inserted into two slots 230, 231 of the top plate 23. Each of the covers 26 has four notches 260 so that the top wall of each of the tubes 4 is located in one of the notches 260 of the covers 26. The conventional strut units 2 suffers from the following disadvantages:
(1) Because the vertical tubes 22 have an outer diameter which can only be approximate to that of the nuts 25, as shown in FIG. 2, the loading capacity of the strut units 2 is limited.
(2) Shock resulting from the operation or movement of the computer equipment easily breaks the vertical tubes 22.
(3) The connecting plate sections 232 easily deform due to the fact that the top plates 23 support the tubes 4 only by means of the connecting sections 232.
(4) The floorboard units 3 easily deform at centers thereof due to the fact that the centers of the units 3 are far from the top plates 23.